Retail fueling facilities often have two or more fuel dispensers at which simultaneous fuel-dispensing transactions may occur. At the fuel dispensers, a customer may be able to select from among two or more fuel types and/or fuel grades. Examples of commonly available fuel types include liquid petroleum, gasoline, ethanol, and diesel.
Fuel dispensers are typically used to refuel vehicles, such as cars, trucks, boats, and aircraft. Fuel dispensers may also be used to transfer fuel to a container. Some fuel dispensers may include a pump, a flow meter, a totalizer, a hose, a nozzle, and a user interface. Typically, fuel dispensers include a meter to determine the quantity of fuel dispensed during a transaction. Some fuel dispensers further provide a display to numerically indicate the quantity of fuel dispensed.
When a user has finished dispensing fuel, the transaction may be completed by the user providing payment based on the amount of fuel dispensed and the unit price of the fuel (e.g., price per gallon). Information about the fuel dispensing transaction is typically displayed at the fuel dispenser, although some retail fueling facilities can display fuel dispenser transaction information to an employee/operator in a building at the site (e.g., a store). In some cases, the fuel dispenser may be equipped with a card reader in order to receive payment data.
Some form of remote dispenser controller is typically used for controlling the fuel dispensers. The dispenser controller is often on the same premises as the fuel dispensers and coupled to a store interface unit so that a site attendant can monitor and control particular fuel dispensers. The dispenser controller sends data signals (e.g., commands) to the fuel dispensers. The data may include price, payment data for the fuel dispensed, preset amounts of fuel to dispense, and authorization to dispense fuel. The fuel dispensers likewise send data signals to the controller, including pump number, pump status, and dispensed fuel volume and sale value.
An example of one type of service that a dispenser controller commonly provides to a fuel dispenser is point-of-sale (POS). POS services may, for example, include cash register, dispenser control, credit card, inventory management, processing, and scanning. POS services are commonly implemented in a dispenser controller utilizing an open architecture hardware platform with POS application software programming to integrate the services.
Unfortunately, the communication system coupling the dispenser controller and the fuel dispensers is not particularly fault tolerant. Thus, the communications between a dispenser controller and a fuel dispenser are often interrupted, leading to a loss of ability to provide services to the fuel dispenser (e.g., financial transactions and pump functions). The fuel dispensers may also be inoperable for appreciable periods of time and not able to achieve their primary function (i.e., dispensing fueling), which can be an inconvenience to customers and a lost source of revenue to retail fueling facilities.